(SAINT LOUIS, Mo.) — One person is dead and another injured after a shooting Wednesday at a mall in suburban St. Louis, police said.
The person who died was identified only as a man in his early 20s, police said. The age of the person, also a man, who was injured was not immediately clear.
A suspect is still on the loose.
A spokesman for the St. Louis County Police said in a press conference that although the event was initially believed to be an active shooter situation, further investigation showed that was not the case.
Police said two groups had been involved “in a dispute” at the St. Louis Galleria mall, located in the city of Richmond Heights, before shots were fired around 12:30 p.m. local time.
No other details were provided about the dispute and police are working to determine if there was a relationship between the groups.
Authorities are looking for someone who they described as a person of interest.
The spokesman said it was of “paramount importance” this person be identified and apprehended.
“We need to identify that individual as soon as possible,” he said.
Police are also looking for three or four other individuals who were in the group with the person of interest. Police believe they fled on foot.
St. Louis County Police remained at the scene along with multiple other jurisdictions.
The public is urged to avoid the area and the mall is expected to be closed for the day. Police noted that there is no known threat to others.
(TOPEKA, Kan.) — As school districts across the country grapple with how and when to reopen safely during the coronavirus pandemic, the Kansas State Board of Education rejected Gov. Laura Kelly’s executive order delaying the start of the school year despite rising cases of COVID-19 in the state.
In a virtual meeting on Wednesday, the 10-person board effectively blocked the order, which would have barred any public and private school K-12 instruction from Aug. 10 to Sept. 8, in a split vote. School districts can now decide when they want to start the school year for more than half a million students.
Kelly announced the executive order last week before releasing details on Monday. The additional three weeks, she said, would provide schools time to obtain supplies like masks, thermometers and hand sanitizer, as well as review curriculum options on in-person, hybrid and virtual learning that the state’s board of education released last week.
A law enacted last month by the Republican-controlled state legislature required the board to approve the Democratic governor’s executive order for school reopening.
Following the vote, Kelly said the decision “puts our students, faculty, their families and our economy at risk.”
“The cases of COVID-19 in Kansas are at an all-time high and continue to rise. Our decisions must be informed by public health experts not politics,” the governor said in a statement.
Kansas currently has 24,104 confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to state data. Since early June, cases have been steadily on the rise in the state. On July 13, Kansas saw a record number of new cases, with 1,447, according to The COVID Tracking Project.
During Wednesday’s board meeting, Kelly’s chief of staff, Will Lawrence, said the delay would give the state time to “flatten the curve.”
In voting for the order, Ann E. Mah said, “I want to be on the right side of history on this one.”
Jim Porter pointed out the irony of the members deciding on the “wisdom” of sending students and staff back to school “from the comfort and safety of our own homes,” before voting yes on the order.
Those opposed to the delay argued that districts, especially rural ones that don’t have outbreaks, should make their own decision on reopening.
“This virus is not the same across the state,” Jean Clifford said before voting against the order. Reacting on social media, some Kansans said they were “horrified” and “disappointed” by the order’s rejection, while others argued that this is not a “one-size-fits-all decision” and hoped that districts do “what is best for their students and staff.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, some school districts had already announced plans to delay the start of the school year. On Tuesday, the school board in Kansas City, Kansas, voted to start school on Sept. 9, with virtual learning for the first nine weeks. The school district is seated in Wyandotte County, which has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the state. Last week, Topeka’s school board also approved a plan to reopen remotely on Sept. 9.
Other school districts are still reviewing their plans, including Olathe in hard-hit Johnson County, which has the highest number of cases in the state. Wichita, the largest school district in Kansas, has yet to release its plan, but had said it was looking to have students start in-person in August.
(SEATTLE) — The suspect in a hit-and-run on a closed Seattle freeway that left a Black Lives Matter protester dead and another seriously injured was arraigned on Wednesday as demonstrators stood outside the courthouse chanting the victims’ names.
Dawit Kelete, 27, pleaded not guilty to charges of vehicular manslaughter, vehicular assault, and reckless driving in the July 4 incident that killed Summer Taylor, 24, and injured Diaz Love, 32, who were part of a Black Lives Matter demonstration that prompted the police to shut down a section of Interstate 5 in Seattle.
During the brief hearing Wednesday, protesters stood outside the King County Courthouse in Seattle and chanted the names of Taylor and Love, who remains in a hospital.
Prior to the hearing, Love received cheers from supporters while appearing on a livestream broadcast from a hospital bed.
“As soon as I get out of here and get in a … wheelchair, I’m going to be on the marches with you,” Love told the crowd.
Love, of Portland, Oregon, suffered a traumatic brain injury, a shattered pelvis and tailbone, a broken arm, and three fractures to a leg. Love said the recovery from the injuries is expected to be a long one.
Love said Kelete, who was driving a Jaguar, did not have insurance.
“I think my monthly bills are going to be about $10,000 a month with, like, rent and having to get full-time caregivers and equipment. So the money I have, so far, is going to go quick,” Love said. “I don’t know when I’m going to get back to work and this is going to be a really long process.”
Surveillance video captured Kelete’s 2013 white Jaguar driving down the freeway, swerving around cars that were blocking the lanes to support the protest, and striking Taylor and Love, who were walking on the shoulder. The blow knocked them both into the air, over the roof of the vehicle, and onto the pavement.
According to charging documents filed in the case, Kelete allegedly did not slow down as he drove on the shoulder.
The incident unfolded at about 1:40 a.m. when Kelete allegedly entered the closed freeway by going the wrong way on an exit ramp, and drove at high speed toward a crowd of people protesting the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, authorities said.
State police said that following the collision, the Jaguar continued to head south on the freeway and that protesters in a vehicle chased it for about a mile before maneuvering in front of the Jaguar and forcing it to stop, according to the complaint.
Kelete remains in custody at the King County Correctional Facility on $1.2 million bail.
Investigators have not commented on a motive for the incident, but Kelete’s attorney, Francisco A. Duarte, said it was not an intentional act.
“This tragic event was not a political act or statement,” Duarte said. “On behalf of Kelete and his family, we ask each of you to leave room for the fact that we witnessed a tragic accident and not a crime. We are at the beginning of our investigation and will produce a truthful and trustworthy defense.”
Kelete’s family released a statement expressing support for Taylor and Love.
“No words can express or make up for the suffering that Diaz Love, Summer Taylor’s family, and their loved ones and friends are enduring at this moment,” the family’s statement reads. “We recognize the pain is profound, raw and unbearable. It is always gut wrenching to lose one’s child at a young age, but it is more hurtful under these circumstances.”
Kelete was given field sobriety tests and volunteered to take a Breathalyzer test, which determined he was not impaired at the time of the deadly episode, according to the complaint.
He denied taking medication, according to the charging documents. Later, Kelete allegedly told jail personnel that he struggles with an untreated Percocet addiction, the documents said.
The results of a blood test administered several hours after the crash have not been made public. A substance that “appears similar to crystal methamphetamine” recovered from Kelete’s car is also pending testing, according to the charging documents.
(WASHINGTON) — If there’s one conversation dominating parent groups right now — online, in person or in a rapid flurry of group texts — it’s this: What will the upcoming school year look like?
There’s the possibility of a full return. There’s the possibility of a full return but with kids in smaller “pods.” There’s potentially a part-time return where kids attend school a few days a week. There’s also the no-return, where all schooling takes place via remote learning or via a homeschooled curriculum.
And as families inch toward September and with almost zero information, a growing subset of parents are taking education into their own hands.
Take Helene Alonso, a full-time working mom of two who’s hoping to create a school for the kids in her building, including her pre-K and second grader for whom she said distance learning “did not go well.”
The spring, she said, was about “just trying to survive.” But that’s not going to cut it for the upcoming year.
“We have a diverse group of parents and kids,” Alonso told “GMA” of the families in her Harlem apartment building, “with a rainbow of concerns.” The building does have a courtyard and a community room that the residents — all homeowners — are able to use.
“So I was thinking, what if we could get a sports teacher to teach the kids in the courtyard while kids are learning in small groups or one-to-one with a teacher in the community room as the classroom,” she said. “They can run around supervised and learn. But most importantly they would have social interaction.”
Her biggest obstacle, she said, is getting the building management to agree to using the space in those ways.
It’s a service teachers are willing to provide and one many for which people are searching. Care.com reports an increase in families searching for caregivers who have experience as a teacher, early childhood educator or tutor. And companies that have always offered small-group enrichment are now inundated with requests for in-home teaching.
Rina Collins, the owner of Book Nook Enrichment in New York City, offered small-group literacy programs prior to the pandemic. Now, she’s fielding inquiries from parents looking for teachers to come to their homes.
“Those with kids in kindergarten through second grade are looking for academic teachers, while those with kids 2 to 5 are looking to fill up a schedule” with art, yoga and more, she told “GMA.”
Her clients are considering not returning to school — even if it does open — for a variety of reasons, she said, adding, “Someone might be immunocompromised, or it may just be the school schedule now doesn’t fit their needs.”
The most popular request, she said, is for one-to-one tutoring and small-group learning. In one case, she said, she has a mom who has formed a group of five looking for a teacher for that group only.
It’s a scenario Karin Golden has set up for her own preschooler and a group of friends. When the pandemic hit and her preschooler’s Spanish-language immersion program went virtual, Golden and the other parents in her group — all friends — decided they would host their own school if things did not resume as normal in the fall. And the closer the fall gets, the better Golden feels about having a plan in place for her daughter — at least for two days each week.
“We are friends with the families and trust them,” she said. They have hired the teacher who taught the kids in their immersion program and an assistant teacher. Golden’s even just started a company, Colores, to help other parents do the same. Classes will be held outdoors for as long as weather allows, and then move between homes every two months.
“If her regular preschool opens, great, she’ll go there too,” Golden said. “But I’m glad to tell her that no matter what, she will get to go to Spanish school.”
(LIVONIA, Michigan) — At least 13 nuns from a single convent in Livonia, Michigan, have died since the COVID-19 pandemic began nearly three months ago.
A dozen nuns in the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice died after contracting the virus between April 10 and May 10, religious officials said. Another nun from the congregation died on June 27, according to the Global Sisters Report.
Family and friends of the sisters described them as a group of teachers, librarians and authors who “lived together, prayed together and worked together.”
At least 18 other Felician sisters at the Michigan convent have also contracted the virus, according to the report.
“We couldn’t contain the grief and the sorrow and the emotional impact,” Noel Marie Gabriel, director of clinical health services for the Felician Sisters of North America, told the publication. “We went through the motions of doing what we had to do, but that month was like a whole different way of life. That was our most tragic time. It was a month of tragedy and sorrow and mourning and grieving.”
The sisters, who ranged in age from 69 to 99, were longtime members of the Livonia convent who dedicated their lives to servicing others, according to their obituaries. Several were organists, others helped with needy children, and one even authored a 586-page book about the history of the convent. Another previously worked as a secretary in the English section of the Vatican Secretariat of State.
Separately, the Detroit Catholic news service reported that as many as 22 sisters at the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Convent in Michigan had tested positive for the coronavirus through early May.
The report comes as infection rates continue to soar, especially among essential workers like religious leaders.
In addition to the 13 sisters in Livonia, at least 19 other nuns have died in the U.S., including a Felician sister at the order’s convent in Lodi, New Jersey; six sisters from two communities at a shared convent outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and three Maryknoll sisters in Ossining, New York, according to the the Global Sisters Report.
The actual number of deaths could be much higher, but the national figures aren’t being tracked well, religious officials said.
In a memo to members earlier this month, Felician Sisters of North America officials said “some of our Sisters who have had COVID-19 are struggling to recover from a variety of effects, including continuing weakness, respiratory issues and more.”
The virus can also cause lasting difficulties for those with other chronic medical conditions even after recovery, officials noted.
As of early July, Felician Sisters of North America officials said they planned to move forward “slowly loosening the tight restrictions under which Sisters in our convents, especially our larger convents, have operated for more than three months.”
“We have resumed gathering in our chapels as much as we are able, depending on convent circumstances, for celebration of the Mass and opportunities for private prayer. Some of our Sisters continue to participate in daily Mass via television or other electronic devices,” officials said in a statement. “Holy Communion is being distributed to some of our Sisters in their bedrooms.”
“Sister leadership and convent lay leaders collaborate in creating opportunities for safe gatherings in our chapels, supporting infection control guidelines to control exposure to the virus which is, unfortunately, still present with us,” it added.
As of Wednesday, some 617,000 people had died from the virus worldwide although the official toll could be much higher. The United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 3.9 million diagnosed cases and at least 142,312 deaths.
More than 14.9 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, but some experts say the infection rate could be as much as 10 times higher.
kali9/IStockBy ELLA TORRES, ABC NEWS
